TOM HOFFARTH: Kings hold a Cupapalooza

It was delivered to Montreal on Thursday afternoon, where silversmith Louise St. Jacques started the task of taking it apart and engraving the names of all the Kings' men - 50-some players, owners, coaches, trainers and scouts, according to the team's wishes - on a space reserved for what the franchise accomplished last season.

While the calendar says the Summer of Stanley is officially over, a current league lockout makes the next season TBA.

As far as those in the Kings' organization are concerned - especially those given the crazed task of orchestrating a schedule so that each of the 25 players had his exclusive full day with the iconic trophy over a 100-day period, not to mention having it weave in and around commitments to a few dozen front-office employees and other required public appearances - this is a moment to exhale.

"They don't give you a manual for this," said Jeff Moeller, the Kings' senior director of communications. "It's almost like a rock show tour. Sometimes, it felt like a free-for-all."

Mike Altieri, the team's longtime vice president of communications and content, kind of equated it to the birth of a child after what happened when the Kings won Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final on June 11 at Staples Center.

"Here we were, just coming off an unprecedented moment in our history, and we're being handed this thing and being told: You gotta deal with this now," Altieri said.

"As we inched closer to winning, our colleagues from around the league were saying: `Get ready.' It's an overwhelming process but an ultimately positive and uplifting experience for sure."

This rite of visitation/road show has become a Hall of Fame custom since 1995, after the New Jersey Devils won it. There had been times when Wayne Gretzky was granted some personal days with the Cup during the Edmonton Oilers' dynasty of the 1980s, but nothing had been formalized then.

Hall vice president and designated "Keeper of the Cup" Phil Pritchard, heading a crew of Mike Bolt, Howie Borrow and Walt Neubrand who were on call 24/7, hammered out the details with Moeller and Altieri, who have worked together with the Kings over the past 16 years and became the team's point men in figuring out how to make everyone happy in Hockeywood.

Navigating the L.A. terrain was much different from when the Anaheim Ducks had this responsibility after winning the NHL title five years ago.

"Everyone's system for doing this is so different based on market and organization and priorities of that group," Altieri said. "We really had no time to solicit help. It was just so daunting with so much coming at you."

Once the Stanley Cup Final was clinched, the clock started, and a a new gameplan went into effect.

Yet, for a two-week period, the Cup party almost took on a life of its own, hitting parties with groups of players in Las Vegas, appearing on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," visiting actor Matthew Perry's home in the Hollywood Hills, and ending up at a gathering at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood with David Beckham, Chuck Liddell and a group of little people dressed in Kings gear that got so bizarre even TMZ was reporting on it.

Moeller and Altieri took that period to orchestrate the players' tour, also working with the business side of the organization to find out when owner Phil Anschutz and governor Tim Leiweke wanted their days, as well as coach Darryl Sutter, his assistants, the scouting department, broadcasters, trainers and other key employees.

On a giant white board, Moeller drew a crude map of North America and tried to cluster the requests.

It started in late June, a 27-hour, non-direct flight to the northern parts of Russia, for which Moeller happily volunteered.

"I just wanted to get out of North America for a while, and I figured I could go to Siberia and no one would find me," Moeller said with a laugh.

After Anze Kopitar took the Cup to a highly attended tour of his native Slovenia, which became the 24th country to have the trophy visit for the first time, it went to the East Coast of the U.S. and through Canada. For a time, it zig-zagged across the U.S. - a beach party in Venice one day, a boat ride off the coast of New England the next week.

Captain Dustin Brown probably ended up with the most Cup time, from watching his boys Mason and Cooper blow chocolate milk bubbles out of it the next day at his Hermosa Beach home, and then back to his family home in Ithaca, N.Y., for a day that included a ride in a supermarket shopping cart.

"It was kind of spur of the moment," Brown said. "But it was one of the best things I did. We were in the dairy section and this one woman is on her phone talking to her husband and she's saying, `What do you need ... whoop, there's the Stanley Cup going by."'

Drew Doughty took it into his childhood bedroom in London, Ontario, and laid in bed with it. The dream had come true.

Mike Richards took it paddle surfing in Kenora, Ontario (and yes, the Cup wore a life vest).

Willie Mitchell lifted it at the highest point he could find in Port McNeill, British Columbia.

In Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan, rookie Dwight King celebrated his Native American roots and had a photo of him with his uncle, Chief Norman of the Medis tribe, in full headdress.

Sutter had the Cup for almost two full days in Viking, Alberta, for a family reunion.

In Cave Creek, Ariz., equipment manager Denver Wilson brought it out for some roping lessons.

"No one day is really the same," said Moeller, "and you learn that most guys are very happy to get it, but when their day is done, they're spent. A wedding reception is probably the closest comparison you can make."

One day, Moeller took team photographer Andy Bernstein, climbed into a van, and went on a 15-hour impromptu tour of L.A. where they would jump out, snap a photo and video of the Cup with different landmarks, and keep moving.

Moeller tweeted out sites as they had left. Eventually, one family of four took a guess that they'd eventually show up at the Hollywood Bowl - which they did - and were there to get their own photo after waiting some two-plus hours.

Altieri, who also began the process of changing jobs toward the end of the NHL season and is now involved on the AEG Sports corporate side, said the highlight for him this summer was watching "the spontaneity and reaction from people who had no idea the Stanley Cup was around and - boom! - there it is. Cars would stop and people would jump out to take pictures."

Moeller said his highlight was the day the Cup made it to Dodger Stadium for a Freeway Series team photo - the Dodgers, Angels and Kings, in one spot.

In just the first two months, LAKingsInsider.com writer Rich Hammond estimated the Cup's frequent flyer account had already amassed more than 38,000 miles - impressive, considering the Earth's circumference is almost 25,000 miles.

His Google.com map marked the continuous journey. The Hockey Hall also kept a "Stanley Journal" blog post updated every week. Pritchard helped document with photos on his own Twitter account: @keeperofthecup.

With today's technology, it was nearly impossible not to find out where the Cup was, and what it was doing.

"Mike and Jeff were great to deal with," Pritchard said. "I guess it was a first for all us. Having the Cup in Southern California was a great thing.

"It was different than when the Ducks won, because social media has become more and more popular and everything is captured nowadays in some way, shape or form. There were a lot of neat locations, some great events. And most of all was the respect the Cup has by those who have won it."

Pritchard reported few, if any, embarrassing incidents. There are stories of past exploits where the Cup was left at the bottom of someone's pool, broken and Duct-taped together. This time, there was more respect and reverence to report. Several players like Kopitar even took the Cup to family members' grave sites to share an emotional moment.

Some 17 states were included, as well as six Canadian provinces, in addition to the European excursion.

As recently as last week, the Cup was still doing some Hollywood sight-seeing, such as the "Wheel of Fortune" studios in Culver City with host and longtime Kings fan Pat Sajak, the Brentwood home of season-ticket holder and broadcaster Al Michaels, and the production offices of "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

Yes, even former Kings owner Bruce McNall got some visitation.

The Cup comes back to L.A. for some youth-rink visits soon and heads to Europe for a second time to coordinate appearances with some of AEG's pro hockey teams in Berlin and Hamburg. From Oct. 9-12, it's L.A.-ready just in case the regular-season opener against the New York Rangers goes as planned.

Ultimately, the Kings plan to produce a book called "Summer of Stanley," with photos from every place the Cup visited. The book could come out this winter.

Now that seemingly everyone in Southern California has their family Christmas card photo taken with the Cup, Moeller and Altieri have maintained their sanity and have a better understanding of what goes into the process - should it happen again.

"That's the best thing about the Cup - it doesn't talk back," Moeller said. "It doesn't matter what time of the night or the morning it is, it never complains or argues or needs to eat."

Still, a welcome rest in Montreal for a face-plate lift procedure seems reasonable as autumn arrives.